Percentile drop

[EllieElephant25]

Hi, does this sound normal. I am ebf, my baby boy was born 9lbs 12.5oz(98th percentile). He is now 6 weeks weighing 11lbs 2oz(65th percentile). He dropped down to 9lbs 2oz but regained birth weight by 2 weeks. I thought babies are supposed to follow their percentile lines?

How was baby born? Did you have fluids? Only I understand that can inflate a babies weight initially.

Have you got any breastfeeding friendly groups nearby? Like la Leche league? These groups usually have peer supporters who can give advice re breastfeeding.

I following quite a few IBCLC accredited breastfeeding consultants on Instagram that might be helpful

Olivia Hinge olivia lactation consultant (with underscores between the words)

Lucy.ruddle.IBCLC

Both are helpful accounts

From what I've read I think this would be a red flag to get the latch checked. But equally with my own daughter we had a similar journey with weight and EBF

Born 8lb4 and at 6 weeks she was 9lb7

She's still breastfed now and 17mo on the 96th centile, it shot up around month 4/5.

But definitely if you feel concerned, go to a local group, join some online a pages. There is support for you out there.

He was born naturally. I did have fluids, as I had antibiotics during labour. I personally do believe that’s why he was heavy. My daughter was 8lbs 4oz. He’s also very long, he’s 64cm at 6 weeks.

The rule of thumb/expectation is that a baby will follow its birth centile if they're doing well, but they can drop centiles for a number of reasons - our son was born between 9 & 25 centile but dropped below the bottom line (0.4 centile) by 2mo. He was put on the NHS weight gain pathway and stayed on it h til 18mo. There are different triggers for concern depending on where they start from on the graph. Who's weighing your baby, are you doing it yourself or with midwife? They should tell you when they do the weight whether any change could be of concern. Eg our little girl dropped a centile last month because she had a cold and couldn't feed so well. They've asked us to weigh her weekly at clinic to keep an eye on things for now.

Here's the pathways - it says for a baby above 91st centile they wouldn't be worried unless they drop 3 or more centiles:

https://what0-18.nhs.uk/application/files/2115/4438/9507/CS48256NHSSFeedingpathwayssInfoSheettOct2018Managinggfalteringgrowthhininfantssandyoungg_children.pdf